Death and its friend
by HeatRises
Summary: A writer, a bird, and a tree. No it's not some punchline to a joke, it's a case that takes one writer to depths he's never been before, and tests the bonds formed with people he now calls friends, and partner.


HEY EVERYONE. I realised I should have waited to upload my first castle bit but I was too eager to get it uploaded. For those of you that have read it this is just the first chapter with the next added on. As it is all one scene it should have been just put into one in the first place but I didn't have it all typed yet, but now I do and so I've just merged both chapters :)

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><p><strong>Rating: T<strong> just to be safe

**Pairings:** Caskett, possible Esplanie, and others... Set like its mid season 3 so everything from before they go LA has happened, just pretend that *spoiler* R.Y isn't dead so that doesn't begin the events leading to LA, but the following, my plot line does :)

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><p>Weightless, a feeling one must feel when dancing within the sky. The feeling one must get from the freedom. One must wonder could such a beauty be hideous. Blue eyes meet black, and all previous thoughts dissipate.<p>

"Please someone tell me I'm not the only one suffering from a serious case of déjà vu?"

"On this occasion only, I'm going to have to agree with you Castle. Lanie what do you know?"

"What I do know is this, this isn't like the last case we worked. Our Vic, she didn't die here, and when I say here, I mean anywhere near this area. This is a dump job."

Blue eyes land upon black and watches until they can no longer follow. Blue eyes land upon red. A colour they use to associate with love, power, and passion. They still do, but in a whole new context. Death. Blood, murder, all a result of one of the former. A killer's reason to kill will most likely always fall under one of those reasons; killing _because_ of love, for want of power, or a crime of passion.

Death always comes back to three basic emotions. Love, power, passion.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we can definitely rule out suicide on this one." Beckett says.

"Yep, our vic wasn't a jumper. One, it's a known fact that if you're going to jump from a building you take off your glasses, if you wear them of course, but, if you didn't then you should really just shut your eyes, or wear a blindfold. Yeah, if I was going to jump from a building I'd wear a blindfold, so I wouldn't know when death would hit me." Green eyes roll. They shouldn't be surprised at a comment like that, and the grin that accompanies it.

"Our vic is wearing glasses Castle." Beckett answers confused. Castle raises a finger.

"Bringing me to point two. If you're going to jump from a building you generally don't aim to land in a tree..."

"You need a building." A gasp.

"You stole my line! I was working the build up and everything, then you go and steal the best bit. That's so not cool Beckett." Castle pouts and Beckett can't help but laugh.

"Castle, your build up was taking so long; it was making me want to jump from a building. I could have jumped from the one you was making, it was taking so long to build up." Beckett grins upon seeing the shocked look on Castle's face, just the result she wanted.

"If you guys are done verbally copulating, we should really get back to discussing the dead body. The one that is currently stuck in tree. I know its not moving, and it won't for a while, 'cos I'm sure aint climbing up there and bringing it down, have you seen the heels I'm wearing. Just because I work with dead bodies all day I can't look good? Hmm-hmm, I thought so too. Now back to the Vic, as far as I can tell from my trip up a ladder, death was asphyxiation; there's ligature marks around the neck so a weapon was most likely used, some kind of rope. Vic is female, approximately 20-25 years old, not much more I can tell you till I get back to the morgue and take a closer look."

"I'll get CSU to send some men to get the body down and gather any evidence that may be on that tree."

"You might want them to take a sample of this tire track too."

"What?" Beckett turns to find Castle kneeling and taking a photograph of the grass.

"What have a told you about taking pictures of crime scenes?" Beckett sighs, this was becoming a pointless exercise, Castle would never listen to anything she told him.

"Not to do it? At least not get caught? You know what Beckett, these photos always come in handy when we get kicked of a case, and I know you're secretly happy that I take them." Beckett shakes her head. No witty come back Castle's smile widens, Beckett simply takes her phone out of her pocket and rings CSU, then proceeds to talk to Lanie.

Castle stops. He closes his eyes and listens to the birds, the ones that still circle the tree. This was their nesting tree; it would take more than a dead body to make them leave their home. Castle gulps, and squints at the birds he saw before. They weren't just an ordinary bird, this was impossible.

Castle begins to walk towards the tree; he starts to climb the ladder placed against the tree. Once near the top he gets his phone out to take a closer look. Castle doesn't hear Beckett shouting his name and ordering him not to take any photos of the Victim, and to get down right this minute, before she turns him into a corpse himself. No, he didn't hear any of that because he wasn't focused on the dead body; he wasn't even taking photos of the dead body. He was looking at the bird. The black crow like bird sat on a branch above the body.

Castle is stunned as he takes in the bare grey-white skin around the base of the bill, and the shaggy feathering around the legs.

No this wasn't a common Crow, this was impossible, surely his eyes were mistaken, his ears deceiving. These birds weren't indigenous to this area, hell they weren't indigenous to this country. Castle got a bad feeling about this case as he stared into the eyes of death's friend.

At some point, one begins to realise beauty has many forms, and right now it was at its ugliest.

Castle can't help but take this case personally; he knows this case is going to be tough especially as he looks into the eyes of his feathered counterpart. A name he is most familiar with, yet why is he so freaked? It all comes down to context and he knows he's going to have a hard time convincing Beckett this isn't just some crazy theory, or him making up random tales. This is fact. Before him is no other than Rook.

"Castle, what the hell was that back there? You could have contaminated evidence, you could've fell and caused a lawsuit. Castle? Are you even listening to me? Hey?" Beckett says the last part softly. "Hey, are you okay?" Maybe he had seen one body too many. He wasn't a cop he hadn't had the training to deal with dead bodies; even cops with the training still find it tough at times.

Castle blinks and wrinkles his nose, as though shaking something out of his mind. Beckett never even considered death would get too much for Castle; it was his thing he seemed to be in awe of death, the best unsolved mystery he had once described death as. Being a cop she's faced death many times, but if asked what death was like she wouldn't be able to describe it, so yeah in a way Castle was right, not that she'd ever tell him that. She never thought she would lose Rick over something like fear. Breaking too many laws and finally the strings he's played so finally managed to snap. That she's imagined a few times, but to actually see him now, she actually believed she might lose him over this and that scared her.

"Are you okay, Rick?" She asks again using his first name, she doesn't even realise she's used it, Castle must have noticed however, as he shakes his head once more, eyes widening a touch and starts to focus on Beckett.

"What?" That wasn't the answer she had been expecting, nor the reaction it invoked in her, as her hand comes up to squeeze his arm. "What happened up there Castle?"

"I, erm, nothing, it was nothing, just erm, got a bug in my throat, _pretty_ gross, I actually think it could've come of the body. Wait is that tampering with evidence. Will you have to cut me?" Gulp. "Please don't cut me, you know I've had nightmares about Lanie with that scalpel, that woman makes Krueger look like a kitten." Beckett looks at Castle strangely.

"Since when has Lanie ever held four scalpels at once?" Beckett raises an eyebrow, getting lost in Castle's insanity, she had forgotten the reason why her hand was squeezing Castle's and lets it fall casually. Later she would curse Castle for how he managed to get her sidetracked like that.

"My dreams Beckett, well nightmares, it was even worse than that dream I had of Esposito eating me." Beckett chuckles. Castle and his ways, how did he come up with all those wild scenarios?

Castle grins at her and turns as Lanie says that CSU are on their way, and she was heading back to the morgue.

"You sure you don't want to ride back with Lanie, I'm sure she'd let you ride in the back with her." Beckett grins wickedly as Castle's eyes widen, she watches his throat and sees him swallow slowly, and she had to bite back a moan which had unwittingly risen in her own throat. What was happening to her?

"No thank you, do not want a repeat of last time. I swear the CIA is out to get me."

"It weren't the CIA Castle, it never is."

"Naha, there was that one time with the alien cover up." Castle's eyebrows rise.

"Never happened." Castle gasps at Beckett's stoic face. Beckett turns away and starts the walk to her car.

"They got to you! Beckett. Oh, no this is bad." Beckett turns around, places a hand on Castle's chest stopping him, he looks at her. She raises an eyebrow of her own, her eyes narrowing, Castle gulps again, damn she was scary when she wanted to be. He often wondered why he never had nightmares about _her._Hell, he knew why, the dreams were too damn good. He grins. If only she could hear his inner thoughts. Ha-ha, he was so glad Beckett wasn't River Tam, he didn't want Beckett to know everything that went on in his mind, how would he surprise her? Or keep his feelings hidden? She could very well still kill him anytime; however, it would be with her beauty. Yes, he was a writer; sometimes he just liked being a corny one.

"I'm shutting up now."

"Good, I don't think I could listen to anymore of your wild dreams or CIA theories, CSU won't be long, think you can keep quiet till they get here? Who am I talking too, ofcoursse you can't. Think you can keep the talk restricted to anything but work or dreams, or the CIA." Castle smirks.

"You sure you don't want me to talk about my dreams, I might just slip up about the one I had of you." Beckett lets out a short laugh.

"Castle, Castle, Castle. Do you _really_wanna slip up and think about dreams of me? There are no cold showers around here, and even though there's a breeze I'm pretty sure the temp is still above 70. Or are you going to tell me that I make Hannibal Hector look like a vegetarian?" Both Castle and Beckett smile neither say anything as CSU turn up early for once.

Castle hangs back watching as Beckett talks to CSU and the other officers, he glances at his phone and the picture he took. The eyes of death stare back at him once more. He shuts his phone and puts it in his coat pocket, he needed to save this for later, where he could worry and theorize all he wanted. He needed to find a few more facts first before he went with Beckett with anything. He knew he would have to have some solid evidence, this little photo just added to the pile of growing evidence and fear.

Someone was out to get him. And he's pretty sure it's not the CIA. For once.

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><p>Better? Hope you enjoyed it and the next chapter may even be up by Friday if you liked it enough, hint hint ;p lol i try i try haha. Thanks for reading x<p> 


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